


Morning Cuppa

by littlemisscurious



Category: Actor RPF, British Actor RPF, Tom Hiddleston - Fandom
Genre: Developing Relationship, F/M, prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-16
Updated: 2014-01-16
Packaged: 2018-01-08 21:38:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1137672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlemisscurious/pseuds/littlemisscurious
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Inspired by a prompt from writeworld on tumblr...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Morning Cuppa

_Her fingers were shaking as she snaked them around the brown porcelain cup, the hot liquid inside warming her skin as the scent of a freshly brewed cuppa wafted past her nose._

_"So, what did you want to talk about?"_

_He sounded calm and collected, the exact opposite of how she felt and for a moment she had to close her eyes and take a deep breath to prevent herself from throwing the cup against the wall only to let off a bit of that steam that caused her insides to burn and bubble. When she opened her dark blue orbs again he was still looking at her expectantly, the sleeves of his stark white shirt rolled up to just below his elbows, exposing his pale, English skin._

_She coughed quietly and took a careful sip of her tea until she had no further excuse not to answer his question. It had been her asking for this meeting after all._

_"I want to talk about us…about you and me."_

_He nodded, only the faint furrowing of his brows betraying any sort of emotional reaction to her statement. He was calm, too calm if it was up to her, but then again he knew how to control his emotions. It was his job after all. He got paid to hide some and to emphasise others and however hard he tried he simply couldn’t leave his profession in front of the door when he came home._

_"Okay. What is it exactly that you want to talk about? The rent, the cleaning schedule? Or are you moving out?"_

_At first he sounded amused, then worried, as he openly wondered about the issue she would like to see addressed. They had been flatmates for almost a year now. He had gladly taken the smaller room, what with him being away so often, and she had Jasper, her dog, after all, who also needed space._

_Everything was evenly split between them otherwise; rent, household duties - given that he was at home of course -, shopping, and other bills that occurred when residing in a rented flat._

_"No, no I don’t want to move out. Actually, it’s got nothing to do with the flat."_

_Her voice was shaky, betraying her insecurities now that she had finally managed to keep her hands still around the cup of tea. His gaze was full of worry now and he swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing in a motion that, to her, looked way more erotic than it probably should._

_But that was exactly the problem._

_The way he sat on his chair right then, legs spread, one hand resting on his thigh, the other twiddling with the handle of his own mug, to her eyes was sexy and confident and enticing beyond measure. The way he moved around the flat, silently and so full of purpose even when he was merely changing the bag in the rubbish bin, left her with a racing heart and sweaty palms. So often had she wondered about the lean torso beneath his shirt, about the strong and muscular legs hidden by the tailored suits. She had found herself standing outside the bathroom door every now and then, listening to his off-tune singing under the shower and imagining the paths of those water droplets running down his naked body._

_It had to stop. Or at least, it had to change. For her own good._

_Silence hung heavy in the room and he coughed quietly as she still hadn’t continued. Both hands were fiddling with his mug now before he took a sip and placed it back onto the worn and scratched surface of their dining room table._

_"I…I have thought about this for a long time. I know it might be one-sided and I am aware of the consequences this might have now but I needed to tell you that…I need to tell you that I love you. I have for so long now and I can’t bear keeping quiet any longer. I can’t bear saying goodbye to you all those times, fearing that one day you will come back and you won’t be alone any more, that there will be someone else by your side. Not before I have told you how I feel. As I said, I am aware that you might not feel the same and please don’t feel bad if that is so. I simply needed to speak my mind before I go mad, sitting here, watching you from afar, hoping that I could be the one you long to return to every night."_

_Her voice, quiet and shaky, sounded foreign, even to her, as if she listened to herself through a layer of cotton that would eventually protect her from his pitiful answer. She could already hear him say how sorry he was but no, he didn’t reciprocate her feelings, that he simply saw her as a friend._

_The scratching of the chair on the cheap laminate sounded like the beginning of the end. Maybe he would go without making an excuse, without offering her phrases of “I’m sorry I don’t feel the same but let’s be friends, okay?”._

_It only took him a few steps to walk around the table over to where she sat, hunched over on her chair, clinging to her mug like it was the last buoy in that ocean of unreciprocated feelings. Slowly, he sank to his knees beside her, his long fingers gently peeling hers from around the mug to take them into his hands. The touch of his lips on her knuckles was like a balm on the scratches of her soul and the warmth emanating from his eyes engulfed her and she suddenly felt safe._

_"So, what you’re saying is that we can finally turn my room into a proper library and cinema because we’ll only be needing one bedroom from now on, is that right?" His eyes, blue and green and endless, twinkled with mischief and mirth but there was something else as well._

_He was nervous, maybe even a little scared. Behind that shiny, polished surface, behind the confidence and mask, he was vulnerable and not so much unlike her. How could she not have seen that before?_

_"Yes. That is exactly what I am saying," she breathed into the silence of their kitchen, finally finding peace in his embrace as a smile, the first in months, ghosted over her lips._


End file.
